For the past two years, the Sled Dog Action Coalition has
repeatedly
asked the Associated Press (AP) to include the animal protection viewpoint
about the Iditarod in its articles about the race. While publishing stories
with musher interviews, the AP in Alaska continues to ignore the animal
protection perspective. It does not publish interviews of anyone who is
opposed to the Iditarod.

On March 9, 10, 11, 2002, the AP in Alaska published the Iditarod's website
address without giving the address of any website with the opposing view. On
March 9, 2002 the AP wrote "Iditarod notes," which publicized flares that
were donated to the Iditarod worth "$89.95" a piece. This article discussed 4
separate topics related to the Iditarod but made no mention of the animal
protection point-of-view. (Photo: If humans want
to race, let them consent to race with each other.)

Please write to the Associated Press and ask it to end its one-sided
reporting about the Iditarod. A sample letter for you to personalize and
contact information are below:

The Associated Press in Alaska is writing one-sided articles about the
Iditarod dog sled race. In his March 5, 2002 article in the Miami Herald,
Greg Cote said the Iditarod is "America's most controversial sporting event,
if you'd call this‘sporting' in any way." Unfortunately, the AP in Alaska
writes as if no controversy existed. The Sled Dog Action Coalition has
repeatedly asked the Associated Press to include the animal protection
viewpoint about the Iditarod in its articles about the race. While publishing
stories with musher interviews, the AP in Alaska continues to ignore the
animal protection perspective. It does not publish interviews of anyone who
is opposed to the Iditarod. This is not good journalism, and I am appalled
that you have allowed this to continue.

On March 9, 10, 11, 2002, the AP in Alaska published the Iditarod's website
address without giving the address of any website with the opposing view. On
March 9, 2002 the AP also wrote "Iditarod notes," which publicized flares
that were donated to the Iditarod worth "$89.95" a piece. This article
discussed 4 separate topics related to the Iditarod but made no mention of
the animal protection point-of-view. Please stop promoting this horrific race.

The Iditarod forces dogs to run 1,150 miles, which is the approximate
distance between New York City and Orlando, over a grueling terrain in 9 to
14 days. Dog deaths and injuries are common in the race. USA Today sports
columnist Jon Saraceno called the Iditarod "a travesty of grueling
proportions" and "Ihurtadog." Fox sportscaster Jim Rome called it
"I-killed-a-dog." OrlandoSentinel sports columnist George Diaz said the race
is "a barbaric ritual" and "an illegal sweatshop for dogs." USA Today
business columnist Bruce Horovitz said the race is a "public-relations
minefield." The Iditarod is condemned by animal protection groups across the
United States.

At least 117 dogs have died in the Iditarod. There is no official count of
dog deaths available for the race's early years. Causes of death have also
included strangulation in towlines, internal hemorrhaging after being gouged
by a sled, liver injury, heart failure, and pneumonia. "Sudden death" and
"external myopathy," a fatal condition in which a dog's muscles and organs
deteriorate during extreme or prolonged exercise, have also occurred. The
1976 Iditarod winner, Jerry Riley, was accused of striking his dog with a
snow hook (a large, sharp and heavy metal claw). In 1996, one of Rick
Swenson's dogs died while he mushed his team through waist-deep water and
ice. The Iditarod Trail Committee banned both mushers from the race but later
reinstated them. In many states these incidents would be considered animal
cruelty, and the offenders would be subject to criminal prosecution.

In the 2001 Iditarod, a sick dog was sent to a prison to be cared for by
inmates and received no veterinary care. He was chained up in the cold and
died. Another dog died by suffocating on his own vomit.

Tom Classen, retired Air Force colonel and Alaskan resident for over 40
years, tells us that the dogs are beaten into submission:

"They've had the hell beaten out of them." "You don't just whisper into their
ears, ‘OK, stand there until I tell you to run like the devil.' They
understand one thing: a beating. These dogs are beaten into submission the
same way elephants are trained for a circus. The mushers will deny it. And
you know what? They are all lying." -USA Today, March 3, 2000 in Jon
Saraceno's column

Beatings and whippings are common. Jim Welch says in his book SpeedMushing
Manual, "I heard one highly respected [sled dog] driver once state that
"‘Alaskans like the kind of dog they can beat on.'" "Nagging a dog team is
cruel and ineffective...A training device such as a whip is not cruel at all
but is effective." "It is a common training device in use among dog
mushers...A whip is a very humane training tool."

Mushers believe in "culling" or killing unwanted dogs, including puppies.
Many dogs who are permanently disabled in the Iditarod, or who are unwanted
for any reason, are killed with a shot to the head, dragged or clubbed to
death. "On-going cruelty is the law of many dog lots. Dogs are clubbed with
baseball bats and if they don't pull are dragged to death in harnesses....."
wrote Alaskan Mike Cranford in an article for Alaska's Bush Blade Newspaper
(March, 2000).

The race has led to the proliferation of horrific dog kennels in which the
dogs are treated very cruelly. Many kennels have over 100 dogs and some have
as many as 200. It is standard for the dogs to spend their entire lives
outside tethered to metal chains that can be as short as four feet long. In
1997 the United States Department of Agriculture determined that the
tethering of dogs was inhumane. The chaining of dogs as a primary means of
enclosure is prohibited in all cases where federal law applies. A dog who is
permanently tethered is forced to urinate and defecate where he sleeps, which
conflicts with his natural instinct to eliminate away from his living area.
Because he is close to his own to his own fecal material, a dog can easily
catch deadly parasitical diseases by stepping in or sniffing his own waste.

The Alaska SPCA opposes the Iditarod and has called for an end to the
breeding and culling (killing) of these dogs. Iditarod dogs are unhappy
prisoners with no chance of parole.